Qwiss! wrote:
y va marquer wrote:
If something is not key then the difference it makes to the whole is not very significant
There are 15 or more players who play a significant role over the season. They can't all be key players but they still mak a. Difference to how the season plays out.
Exactly. Getting a good player in who's not "key" but good enough to keep the overall team performance at a reasonable level when you're resting your actual key players, reducing the chance that they get overplayed and injured, still makes a huge difference to how a season pans out.
I skimmed that article and thought it was a load of rubbish. Disregarding the tired clichés (look at that list of "well-run clubs") regurgitated in that article the author makes too many conjectures and generally seems to struggle with the concept of over- or underdetermination:
Fulham bought nobody in 2005 and soared up the table. Cardiff bought eight players last season and went down.
That's supposed to prove what exactly? You could pick examples like that for the summer window too, should that one be closed too?
Obviously transfers are not the be all and end all, the most important job in a football club is still the manager's. But to just wash away the notion that astute signings (and a manager who knows how to use said player) in January can give you a boost, for more than just the next six months too, is silly. De Bruyne in recent seasons moved in January, Dante's move to Gladbach saved their season couple years back and turned them from relegation battlers into a CL team, and it's also not that long ago that Arshavin carried us to 4th in 08/09
